Performing Hamlet: Actors in the Modern Age - Softcover

Croall, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1350030759 ISBN 13: 9781350030756

Publisher: The Arden Shakespeare, 2018

Synopsis

Hamlet is arguably the most famous play on the planet, and the greatest of all Shakespeare's works. Its rich story and complex leading role have provoked intense debate and myriad interpretations.

To play such a uniquely multi-faceted character as Hamlet represents the supreme challenge for a young actor. Performing Hamlet contains Jonathan Croall's revealing in-depth interviews with five distinguished actors who have played the Prince this century:

Jude Law: 'You get to speak possibly the most beautiful lines about humankind ever given to an actor.'

Simon Russell Beale: 'Hamlet is a very hospitable role: it will take anything you throw at it.'

David Tennant: 'No other part has been so satisfying. It was tough, but utterly compelling.'

Maxine Peake: 'Hamlet was a way of accessing bits of me as an actress I've not been able to access before.'

Adrian Lester: 'Working with Peter Brook on Hamlet changed me as an actor, and for the better.'

The book benefits from the author's interviews with six leading directors of the play during these years: Greg Doran, Nicholas Hytner, Michael Grandage, John Caird, Sarah Frankcom and Simon Godwin. Many other productions are described, from those starring Michael Redgrave, Alec Guinness and Paul Scofield in the 1950s, to the performances of Benedict Cumberbatch, Andrew Scott and Paapa Essiedu in recent times. The volume also includes an updated text of the author's earlier book Hamlet Observed, and an account of actors' experiences of performing at Elsinore.

About this title

About the Author

Jonathan Croall is a theatre historian and biographer, and author of Performing King Lear: Gielgud to Russell Beale (The Arden Shakespeare, 2016), John Gielgud: Matinee Idol to Movie Star (Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2011) and Buzz Buzz! Playwrights, Actors and Directors at the National Theatre (Methuen Drama, 2008).

Review

“In Performing Hamlet Croall gives a glimpse into preparing and performing the role of Hamlet ... Croall's examination is not purely academic: he enriches it with interviews of five actors and six directors engaged in productions of Hamlet. This makes the text much more appealing and applicable to the modern actor/director. Chapter 9 offers an extensive “day in the life” look at the 2000 National Theatre production with Simon Russell Beale as Hamlet. This chapter helps convey the fast-paced life of the professional actor in preparation, performance, and touring ... This is a solid and fresh study for actors/directors and those researching the production history of Hamlet. Summing Up: Recommended.” - Choice

About this edition

• Publisher: The Arden Shakespeare
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1350030759
• ISBN 13: 9781350030756
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208